Germaans offeraltaar 1857 - 1864

Hendrik-Dirk Kruseman Van Elten made this print, titled "Germaans offeraltaar," sometime in the 19th century. It's a lithograph, a printmaking technique that relies on the chemical repulsion of oil and water. The artist would have drawn his image on a flat stone or metal plate with a greasy crayon, then treated the surface so that ink would only adhere to the drawn areas. This print medium is particularly well-suited to capturing the rough, weathered texture of the megalithic stones it depicts. Think about the labor involved in quarrying, transporting, and assembling these massive structures in the prehistoric era. Now, consider the artist's labor in carefully rendering that work through the lithographic process. The print transforms the original act of monumental construction into a delicate image, distributed and consumed as a commodity. Paying attention to these layers of making allows us to reflect on how acts of labor and creation are represented and valued across different eras.